My friendships with many of you were formed as we shared books.  Leaving books on each others desks, handing over a stack to include in a suitcase when you leave, emailing titles when miles set us apart.  This is how it is with me and my friend June.  When we used to work together, we'd see each other on occasional trips and catch up on what we've been reading.  We'd pass books back and forth, we'd talk about what we'd been reading, and June would tell me all the good books her sister Jan had been reading as well.  Now that its been two years since I've last seen June in person, I've finally talked June into picking this month's selection - recommended, of course, by her sister Jan.  Please join June and Jan and me in reading The Whole World Over by Julia Glass.


You may recognize the author of this book from her earlier novel, Three Junes.  I remember reading that book right after Martin was born, also given to my by my friend June.

The Whole World Over is the story of Greenie Duquette, a pastry chef in New York, a wife and a mother.  Described as a "sprawling novel that follows a dozen or so characters into the tumultuous dissatisfactions and challenges of middle age, their paths crossing and recrossing with a pleasing mixture of chance and inevitability."

Reviews from people we don't know, The Good and The Bad:
"I would divide this book into 4 parts with each part being about 125 pages. The first 2 parts were very well written. I was deeply moved by the characters and the writing. I was engrossed in the characters and felt the book was fantastic. Around the 3rd part I felt it was getting a little bogged down. I was still enjoying it but the constant descriptions of the food Greenie prepared were beginning to bore me a little. I felt her relationship with Charlie was a little off kilter - I felt the connection between them was a little forced. I loved Walter's story all the way through. The ending was deeply moving and I read the last 125 pages in one sitting. Overall I think Julia Glass is a fantastic writer. She develops characters that readers can truly care about. I would highly recommend this book and her previous book as well. Also - the children's books she mentions throughout the book are great too!"
- The Good

"I found it terribly disappointing and the characters really annoying. There was nothing likable about any of them....I found myself wanting to shake them. It struck me that for a woman who supposedly wanted children, or at least a child, the heroine in the story was rather stiff and an unnatural mother reacting in an inhibited manner to her son. I did finish the book, but found it difficult and several times almost put it down for good."
- The Bad

For this month's pairing, I'm turning away from wine to bring you a recipe for a Greenie Martini, the name of which is shared by the main character in our book.  Here's how to make it:
- Place six Bigelow Green Tea tea bags into a measuring cup and add 1¼ cups boiling water. Let brew for 3 minutes. Remove tea bags.  Add 1/4 c. sugar and stir until it dissolves. Chill.
- To make the martini, take two ounces of the cooled sweet tea and mix it with one ounce of the vodka. Shake with ice and strain into a martini glass. Garnish with a twist of lemon.
- Drink martini, read two pages of book, get too tired and go to bed.  Do not repeat.